Midnight Swim
by Angel-chan Desu
Summary: Gou isn't her usual self. Nagisa wants to cheer her up. NagiGou. Oneshot.


The atmosphere was heavy among the first years of Iwatobi High School. More specifically, class 1-A. They were mainly worried, and the cause of their worry was none other than Matsuoka Gou. The girl was unusually quiet and she seemed upset. While she was hardly a bouncing ball of energy, she was never this low, thus the concern when people realised the difference in her personality.

She was subject of much talk once break had arrived, though she didn't seem to notice this. Either that, or she just didn't care. Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened. Hazuki Nagisa walked in and headed straight to Gou's desk. The class went silent, though he pretty much ignored this.

"Gou-chan, Rei-chan wanted me to tell you he can't make it to swim practise today," he told the girl. Gou merely looked up at him and said, "That's fine. Thank you for telling me." Nagisa blinked, confused. He hadn't been informed of Gou odd behaviour.

"Eh? You're welcome, but don't you want to know why?" he asked. Gou didn't respond this time, preferring instead to keep her head down, eyes trained on her desk.

"Gou-chan, you alright?" the boy bent down so he could look Gou in the face, if somewhat awkwardly. He was surprised to see her eyes were glazed over almost; she looked on the verge of tears. Frowning, he stood and muttered, "I'll just leave you then. See you after school." With that, he left the classroom. Conversations were rekindled, and some turned to newer topics after Nagisa's attempt to talk to Gou. Suffice to say Nagisa's thoughts remained on his wayward friend for the rest of the day.

* * *

After school, Nagisa travelled the short distance to the pool he and his friends used for their club activities. Said friends, Nanase Haruka and Tachibana Makoto, had already arrived at the pool, and were now practising laps.

"Haru-chan, Mako-chan, I'm here," Nagisa said cheerfully, waving at the two. While Haru continued swimming, Makoto came to a stop to wave back.

"Give me five minutes to get changed," Nagisa added, turning on his heel sharply to return to the changing rooms. Once inside however, he didn't begin undressing. Instead, he sat down and started to think. His thoughts mainly stuck to Gou and her weird behaviour.

"Hmmm, I wonder what's wrong with Gou-chan?" he said quietly to himself. He thought over this question as he finally began getting ready. He took off his shirt as he realised, "Ah, maybe it's got something to do with Rin-chan. If that's the case, then what could've happened between him and Gou-chan?" This gave him more to think about. Of course he was only assuming Gou's behaviour was because of her brother. For all he knew, it could've been something else that was making her act like this. But Nagisa was positive it had something to do with Rin. Gou always seemed to be worried about her brother...

Just as he had finished getting ready, the door to the changing rooms opened. Turning round, he saw that it was Gou.

"Ah, Gou-chan, you're a little late," he pointed out, putting on a smile in the hopes that she would cheer up slightly. Gou merely looked up and said, sounding mildly surprised that she'd been spotted arriving late, "Ah, I am. Sorry, I was held up." She continued walking through, headed to the pool area. Nagisa frowned, unsure what to do.

"Gou-chan, what's up?" he asked, despite having attempted this question earlier in the classroom. Gou stopped by the door, hand resting against it.

"It's none of your concern," she said, not turning around to face him. Nagisa couldn't help but feel a bit upset at this; he wanted it to be his concern since she was...well, concerning him with her behaviour.

"Why can't you just tell me?" His insistence however was bothering Gou.

"No, I don't want to," she growled, growing annoyed. She really just wanted to be left alone about the matter. And when Nagisa attempted to push further, she turned and snapped, "Look, just leave it! It's nothing you need to worry about, so why are you insisting? Just...just leave it!" Wth that, she left the changing room, the door slamming behind her. Leaving Nagisa to wonder what he'd done to push her over the edge like that.

* * *

An hour had passed. The boys had practised non-stop during this time, and the teacher, Amakata Miho, having been held back by paperwork, had shown up.

"Alright," Ama-sensei shouted, looking at her watch, "I think that is a good time to stop." The three boys climbed out of the pool, with Makoto turning to the other two and saying, "That was some good work." Nagisa nodded and said, "Shame Rei-chan couldn't be here as well. Especially since he needs the practise more than us." Haru, meanwhile, didn't stick around to chat, and immediatly made his way toward the changing rooms.

"Okay, we have to close up now," Ama-sensei said in a sing song voice, standing from her deck chair. Makoto nodded and followed Haru, while Ama-sensei started to pack away her things. Nagisa however didn't move. Instead, he was watching Gou, who sat by the poolside, looking into the water. He was still very much worried about her. He could tell the others were too, even Haru, as much as he didn't show it. He took a step toward her.

"Gou-chan..." he muttered. The girl turned her head ever so slightly away from him, a subtle, but clear sign she didn't want to talk. A hand grabbed Nagisa's shoulder lightly, making him jump almost. Ama-sensei gave Hima small smile and told him quietly, "It'd be best if you just leave her. She should be feeling better tomorrow." And thus, the teacher left, leaving Nagisa and Gou alone by the pool. Nagisa sighed and went down the stairs, though he spared Gou one last glance before he entered the changing room himself.

* * *

That night, Gou had returned home and headed straight to her room, preferring not to talk to her mother. Which was best since her mother didn't feel much like talking either. She placed her school bag on her desk and sat on her bed, sighing as she did so. She sat for a while, just thinking, until she eventually decided to get ready for bed. She stood up and wandered over to her drawers, when she heard something fall behind her. Turning round, she sighed when she saw it was her school bag.

Bending down, she started picking up the books and papers that had fallen out to put them back, when she saw a piece of paper that she hadn't seen before. It stood out particularly as it was a folded square of lined paper with her name on it. She placed the books and papers in her bag, then reached for the square, unfolding and reading it.

_'Come to the swim club's pool by 9. Bring a swimsuit with you.'_ That was all it said. It didn't have a signature on it. Gou, while confused, felt she had to meet whoever left the note - though she did have a vague idea of who it was from, and while this annoyed her, especially considering her mood that day, she felt as though she should at least humour the sender.

She quickly got changed out of her uniform and, grabbing a swimsuit from her drawers and tossing it into a plastic bag with a change of clothes, she rushed downstairs and left the house, though not without leaving her mother a rushed excuse of, "A friend wants me over at their house ASAP. Be home soon."

* * *

It was getting dark by the time Gou had reached the pool, though fortunately, whoever had invited her there had went and turned the lights on, meaning she wasn't scrambling about in the dark. Making her way directly to the pool area, she couldn't help but not be surprised when she saw Nagisa floating in the pool on his back, looking as though he were just waiting for someone - most likely her. When she got closer, Nagisa stopped floating and smiled.

"I almost figured you weren't going to show," he laughed. Gou sighed.  
"Well I'm here. What do you want?" she asked. The boy in the pool simply spread his arms out, making the water splash against the edges of the pool. When Gou didn't respond, he chuckled, "Join me." Gou's expression of unamusment turned into that of disbelief.

"Are you serious? What if we get in trouble?" Nagisa ignored this question and instead asked his own, "Didn't you bring a swimsuit?" Gou blushed slightly and nodded. Thinking about it, she didn't know why exactly she did, even if she was doing as Nagisa's note had told her. But now that she was at the pool, she wasn't so sure about it.

"Well, get changed and jump in! Or I could easily just get out and push you in myself, without you getting changed," he suggested, swimming over to the pool edge where Gou was currently crouched by, wearing a sly smile. The girl scowled and shouted, jumping to her feet and walking back away from the pool, "You dare!" Realising how loud her exclamation was, and remembering the time, she quickly brought her hands up to cover her mouth, making Nagisa laugh again. Pouting, Gou sighed, giving in.

"Fine. Give me five minutes." Nagisa gave her an "OK" sign, then dived under, leaving Gou to go get changed.

* * *

True to her word, Gou returned five minutes later, dressed in her swimsuit. She hesitantly climbed into the pool, shivering at how cold the water was. Nagisa quickly swam over to her, and, when he was close enough, she told him, "Okay, I'm in. Now what?" Nagisa grabbed her hand and started dragging her away from the pool wall, chuckling, "We swim, that's what." Gou's cheeks gained a faint pink blush at the boy's touch, until she shook her head and asked, "Wait, do you mean like a race? I don't swim competitively." The blonde looked at her with a confused expression.

"Race? Nah, it's just a midnight swim. We can race if you want to though," he offered, smiling at her. Gou shook her head. But there was still one more question left on her mind.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. Nagisa, who'd been swimming away from her, turned back to face her. She continued, "If this is still about what's been upsetting me, then let me tell you right now, I'm still not te-"

"I know." Surprised at his response, Gou stopped talking, while Nagisa himself continued.

"I understand. I'll admit, I might've pushed it a bit today. So you know what? I'll give you your space. All I really want is to make you feel better. To cheer you up," he said, smiling again. Gou was speechless at this. She was relieved that he wasn't going to push her anymore to find out what was wrong, but she wasn't expecting this. She couldn't help but smile herself. Besides, his own smile seemed to make her feel better.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," she said.

"And I'm glad to see you smiling like you usually do, Gou-chan," Nagisa laughed. Gou pouted, and sighed, "Now if only I could get you to call me Kou instead of Gou, my day would be perfect." Hearing this, Nagisa smirked again and swam up close to Gou, making her blush again.

"If that's the case, then for tonight, you can be Kou-chan instead. Okay?" Gou blinked at him, surprised at this action he was proposing. Then she smiled and grabbed him in a hug - which was slightly awkward considering their location - thus surprising the boy.

"That would be brilliant," she giggled.

Suffice to say, Gou was feeling better the next day.

* * *

**Done~**

**This didn't take me too long, only a few days, though at times it'd be difficult to write due to writer's block. Which is still actually affecting me, so hooray for being able to fight through this ailment and write the fluffy ass story. :D**

**So yeah, I've been watching ****_Free!_****, better known by its pre-air nickname, Swimming anime, and NagiGou is one of the ships that I sail.**

**Originally, I got the idea for this off a tumblr blog called "Imagine Your OTP". I basically nicked one of their things and wrote this based on it. So I guess you could say their thing was a prompt of sorts, except the finished result wasn't exaaaactly like what they'd written, so it's not fully like their thing. But it inspired me to write and this is what I wrote. :D**

**I might use that tumblr for more pseudo writing prompts in future.**

**But for now, enjoy this~**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Angel-chan x**

**Ps. Not saying you have to, but if anyone would like to draw a cover for this, that would be brilliant. Or alternatively, you could link me to a picture that fits the story, i.e. has Nagisa and Gou swimming together or something like that. You don't have to, but it'd be great if anyone could. Thank you~**


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